I high-fived my doctor today. I had my annual physical. It was a year and a day after stepping on the scale at that same doctor’s office and reading that I weighed 329 pounds. Today my doctor looked back at what I weighed last year. When he saw that I today I weighed 259, he gave me a high-five.
I have gone through a transformation in the last year. I have transformed my habits. I have transformed my priorities. In so doing, I have transformed my body. More than this, I have experienced spiritual transformation. I pray more. I study the Bible more. I have discovered that when I am more disciplined in my eating and exercising, I am also more disciplined as a follower of Jesus Christ. I am still transforming. I am striving every day to Love God, Live Well, and Do Good.
I have lost 70 pounds in 366 days, but let me be clear – I am still The Fat Pastor. For one thing, I am still overweight. One year ago I was 34% body fat. Today I am 25% body fat. That is a great improvement, but it is still too high. I literally have too much fat on my body.
Yet even if I lose another 70 pounds, have 7% body fat, and can run a marathon in under 3:00:00, there will always be fat that I can trim from my life. I am, like John Wesley said, moving onward to perfection. Until I am there, I will be laden with fat.
The difference between fat and fit is choices. I make fat choices when I choose a mindless television show instead of time in study. I choose fat when I spend too much time on facebook instead of cultivating relationships. I choose fat when I refuse to help a neighbor. I am fat when I objectify a woman. I am fat when I contribute to an unjust society. I am fat when I forget the needs of the widow, the orphan, the poor, and the oppressed. I am fat when I am blind to racism, sexism, homophobia, or any other way that humans try to divide and separate and subjugate.
I’m trying not to be fat any more. I’m trying real hard. I draw strength from the love and support of family and friends. I draw strength from the encouragement of a remarkable facebook “following.” I draw strength from the words of the prophets that remind me that God’s love and God’s promise of a new day is something for which we can all strive. I draw strength from the Church as the Body of Christ in the world. Above all, I draw strength from the grace of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. I draw strength from knowing that it is not my strength on which I must rely.
Jesus said “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: You must love your neighbor as you love yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”
I try to love God. I worship, and I pray, and I read and listen to God’s Word. I come to Table of Grace. I fall down in confession, and I rise up with the Holy Spirit. I try to live well, because I take seriously the oft-forgotten command to love yourself. I try to do good, because it is through doing good for others that we best express our love of neighbor.
I am The Fat Pastor. I’m trying not to be. With God as my strength and my salvation, I will be The Fit Pastor someday. Until then, I’ll keep on my journey of transformation. Thank you for going on this journey with me.
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Left: December, 2011. Middle: June 2012, immediately after first 5K. Right: January 2013.
The Fat Pastor 
I need to cut this out and tape it in front of me. Congratulations. You give us all inspiration.
So very often we read that the difference between fit and fat is calories. Your take on it – the difference is choices – is a subtle but important message and goes far beyond what we eat or what we leave on our plates. Thanks for the message and for sharing your journey with us. Your transformational photos are amazing!
This is excellent…except for the part where you equate “fat” with “sinful” or “bad”. You aren’t “fat” when you objectify a woman…you’re rude. There’s a difference. I can only imagine that anyone reading this who is currently overweight is going to feel kinda bad when they read that paragraph because it equates who they are with all sorts of bad attitudes.
@Val… I think maybe it would clarify once reading the link at the beginning of the paragraph “The difference between fat and fit is choices”. I’m overweight and a woman, and I totallllllly get what he is saying. Like, he is saying (I think, FatPastor, please clarify if I am wrong) that his SOUL is fat… full of stuff that shouldn’t be there. rudeness (like your example). blind to racism. forgetful of the oppressed. He is referring to a soul that is fat with the things of this world.
@Fat Pastor… thank you for sharing your journey!!!
I love your words about our sinfulness and limitations as humans living in a fallen world. We are sinners, living for a perfect God that loves us so much that he sent his own son to die for us! Thanks for a great writing! Haraldmeetsworld – Norwegian exchange student in Lincoln, NE, USA
That was very inspiring. 1st on your weight loss and I have a doctor appt. soon and I’m expecting a high five. However, your realization of where else you will cut fat from is the best part. Thanks for the revelation.
What an incredible job, you should be so proud of yourself!!
I’ve also lost a lot of weight in the past year (60+ pounds). Along the way the journey stopped being about simply losing weight, or even getting fit, and began being about being a better person. The problem with setting weight loss goals is once to reach them, your motivation can diminish, but becoming a better person is a life-long quest.
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